


Misthaven

by QuillerQueen



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Australia, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Movie AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-23
Updated: 2019-03-23
Packaged: 2019-11-28 20:36:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18213305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QuillerQueen/pseuds/QuillerQueen
Summary: A short, improvised AU inspired by the movie Australia.





	Misthaven

####  **I.**

Regina knew from the start the man sent to collect her is going to be trouble.

For one, her husband referred to him as a trusted man, and the company Leopold keeps is rarely one Regina cares for very much.

When she finds him in the middle of a pub brawl, her fears are only confirmed.

And it doesn’t stop with bad first impressions.

Locksley is brazen and smug. He asks intrusive questions that don’t concern him, and smirks all the damn time. It’s a new world for her here, and she has questions, an endless supply of them--but she’s certainly not seeking answers from this impertinent stranger. Not even if the journey to Misthaven seems interminable in near-silence.

By the time they arrive, Leopold turns up dead--and Regina’s heart soars.

She’s free at last, and what better place for a fresh start?

Any place but this, according to Locksley. He declares his work in Misthaven is done. That the homestead itself is done, driven to the ground by bad management. That she’d do best to return home.

Every argument only strengthens her resolve to stay and build Misthaven back up.

She can’t do it alone though. She doesn’t know this land. She doesn’t know its people.

She needs help, and he can give it to her.

Regina will just have to swallow her pride and beg for it.

###

Robin isn’t particularly thrilled by the prospect of this Lady Blanchard he’s tasked to collect.

For one, Leopold Blanchard is an odious man, and if his wife is anything like him, he’d rather stay well away from her.

Her timing certainly is atrocious, and the haughty, scornful look she greets him with as he massages his bruised jaw is far from promising. Still he tries to strike up a conversation, to see for himself who she is. He’s met with resistance--clipped reponses, barbed retorts, and not a single question about him or the vast, wondrous land that stretches around them.

This isn’t a place for her, and even less so after her husband’s murder.

Yet for some reason, she wants to stay.

There’s a fire in her eyes he can’t help being intrigued by, even if it might well be little more than blind stubbornness fed by ignorance. She pleads with him to stay and help--a feat that’s clearly unprecedented and hard for her--promises a reward he can’t refuse.

So be it.

* * *

 

####  **II.**

He’s not completely awful.

He’s managed to charm his way into the rest of their little company’s heart quickly enough. The great outdoors agree with him--he feels at home here, knows how to survive where others don’t, and not through exploitation but respect. Animals take to him fast, and he takes great pains to understand and reassure them.

They hold watch together one night and share a laugh at the expense of R. S. Gold, whom they intend to beat to a major business opportunity. In this light, Locksley’s smirk has a playful edge to it, and his teasing is more friendly ribbing than insult.

When they lose one of their own in a tragic accident, it’s her company he seeks.

Perhaps he doesn’t think her completely awful either.

###

She's thoroughly fascinating.

An accomplished equestrian, and readily adjusting her style to suit the task at hand. An ambitious woman with a healthy sense of responsibility for those depending on her.

She has a way with children, though this seems to be news to her as well--Henry absolutely adores her, has taken to her immediately and clung to her even harder since his mother’s death.

Regina sleeps on dirt at night and rises with renewed determination every morning as they move a hundred score heads of cattle to the other side of the realm. She questions Robin’s every decision but only to learn, he realises soon enough. She wants to improve herself, continues to push herself, and never complains--her strength and tenacity floor him and inspire the others.

They hold watch together one night and her laugh stirs something deep in his soul he thought forever lost.

She’s the only one he wants to see after one of their own is lost.

She’s brilliant, and he’d better be careful before this grows into more.

It’s already too late.

* * *

 

####  **III.**

They’re dancing, victorious with Misthaven secured for many seasons to come, in a close embrace, grinning at each other before hearts start knocking and all else goes still. Moonlight and the flicker of lanterns make his eyes sparkle with mischief, and the way he bites down on his lip sends a thrill through her.

She kisses him when the rain starts pouring, and he holds her to him like he’ll never let go.

But he does, eventually. They fight, tempers flaring and words spilling recklessly forth, and he leaves and doesn’t come back, just like she asked.

And then Henry’s taken by the authorities, and Regina fights tooth and nail to get her son back.

War has other ideas though.

###

By the time Robin comes to his senses, both his loves are lost to him.

Except he refuses to believe that, can’t bloody come to terms with it--and so he fights back, does the impossible hoping for the unlikely. And it pays off.

Life blooms when the rain comes in. Misthaven is full of it. Of life, and love, and second chances for all three of them.


End file.
